Economic empowerment

Violence against women, as well as women’s vulnerability to violence, has increased dramatically in the Euro-Mediterranean region from 2011 to early 2014.

Violence against women is recognized as a human rights violation and States have committed themselves to preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, and to end impunity for perpetrators.

FEEDING people isn't easy. Asia saw food riots in 2008 and 2011 when rice prices spiked, and left many in hunger. Globally food prices grew three times as fast as inflation over the past decade.

A new index on food security released this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by DuPont, a large chemicals and materials firm, uncovers a few fascinating findings. The most interesting is a strong correlation between women's economic opportunity and access to affordable, safe food. The Global Food Security Index shows a hefty 0.93 correlation with the EIU's Women’s Economic Opportunity Index, which measures female economic participation (scattergraph below).